Western Montana AHEC

In partnership with the Western Montana Area Health Education Center, UMHM provides educational hands-on experiences for Montana's K-12 learners. Programs offered include:

HOSA Partnership

Montana HOSA: Future Health Professionals is a middle school through college Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) operated through the Office of Public Instruction. HOSA chapter members have an opportunity, under the direction of a school advisor, to explore health careers, build leadership skills through community service, and develop workforce skills through job shadows. www.montanahosa.org.

In-a-Box Health Science Curriculum Trunks

Self-contained boxes - covering the Eye, Ear Brain, Guts, Mouth, Bones & Muscles - available for loan, FREE, to Montana 4th-8th grade educators. Included are lesson plans, station activities, models, and other resources designed to engage students in health and science. The Western Montana AHEC In-a-Box curriculum trunks have been transferred to the Missoula Public Library. You can contact your local library to inquire about having the curricula kits transferred from Missoula Public Library to your local library.

Classroom Chats

Classroom Chats is a program that connects healthcare professionals to 5-12th grade students across Montana.

We connect healthcare professionals with 5-12 classrooms and once matched, you will video chat into the classroom for a 30-60 minute session. The format is conversational, Q and A style so that the kids feel they’ve had direct contact with healthcare professionals. The goal of this program is to help students gain a better understanding of the various careers in healthcare and what the day to day looks like for a healthcare professional. This program is especially meant for schools in remote, rural areas that do not have easy access to a healthcare facility and a way to interact with healthcare professionals.

MedStart

A 5-day summer program sponsored by the Montana AHEC (Area Health Education Center) system. The program is designed to encourage sophomore and junior high school students to pursue their interests in a variety of healthcare careers. Montana AHEC focuses on accepting students from low-income families, rural areas, under-represented minorities, or those who will be first in their family to attend college. The aim of MedStart is to provide students a chance to further explore healthcare careers, learn about college life, and realize it is possible to pursue higher education. Applications are available each January. Numerous scholarships are available.

REACH

Research and Explore Awesome Careers in Healthcare - is a program for high school students coordinated by Montana AHEC and hosted by Montana hospitals, clinics, and universities. Students learn about careers within the healthcare field through on-site exploration of various healthcare occupations. The one-day event allows students to rotate through a variety of stations, both clinical and non-clinical, with an emphasis on hands-on activities. The program is free to students and teachers. 

spectrUM Discovery Area

Through the spectrUM Discovery Area, K-12 learners have several opportunities to participate in hands-on health related programming. Opportunities include:

BrainZone

A partnership between the Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience (CSFN) and spectrUM. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Big Sky Brain Project increases Montana K-12 student neuroscience literacy while putting the next generation of Montanans on the fast track to careers in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math. The project includes in museum and traveling exhibit development, educational programs for high school students, clubs, camps, field trips and outreach.

Hands On Health

One of spectrUM's traveling exhibits through the Statewide Mobile Science Program (MosSE), Hands on Health inspires learners of all ages to explore human health and careers in the health sciences. Through interactive exhibits and activities, visitors explore health and the human body and learn about the opportunities that await them in the health professions.

Science Opportunities for Kids (SOKs)

An after school program for 4th & 5th disadvantaged grade students at three local Title 1 elementary schools: Bonner, Franklin and Lolo. SOKs provides youngsters an opportunity to spark their interest in many avenues of science, primarily Health Careers. Twenty-five students from each school are selected and meet once a month to participate in science experiments, meet with health professionals and learn basic science. We work closely with the spectrUM Discovery program on the educational programming for the SOKS classes